Autographed Etchings By American Artists; Produced by a new applications of Photographic Art, under the supervision of John W. Ehninger
New York: W.A. Townsend, 1859. First edition. leather_bound. Three text leaves, the author's introduction in which he describes the technique and benefits of drawing with an etching needle on a glass plate coated with collodion and varnish. Folio, 33 x 26.5 cm. First and only edition of the only published collection of 19th century American cliches-verre. The plates are drawn by 12 different American artists of the time, including Durand, Kensett and Johnson.The process is also described in Wakeman’s Victorian book illustration, and is there called “hyalography”: “one obvious way of making prints, after the invention of photography, was to manufacture a drawn negative instead of using a camera; but despite its obvious attractions, this was done surprisingly little. It was seen at its most successful, artistically, in the cliche-verre prints made by continental artists like Corot, Millet and Rousseau. Plates on albumen paper with photographic printing by P.C. Duchocois. Plates average 20 x 15 cm. First plate toned in the margins. Orig. full brown morocco rebacked, raised bands, front cover lettered in gilt, decorated in blind. Aeg. Near fine. Item #23779
Price: $1,750.00